Upon Due Consideration
by J the Drafter
Summary: Sometimes, events in the Young Justice universe just don't make as much sense as they seem. This is a look at some of those moments. First up: After the near-escape from Belle Reve, one question remains. How did the inmates get the technology that aided their breakout attempt? Waller and the heroes investigate. Because just forgetting about that fact would be, uh, bad.


**Summary:** Aftermath of "Terrors". Waller, with help from Miss Martian, ties up the loose ends related to the attempted escape from Belle Reve.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Young_ Justice or any of the named characters appearing in this story, though I do lay claim to Amanda Waller's common sense.

About Those Prison Uniforms 

Despite the fact that the thermostat in Waller's office was turned up to its maximum, the air was still far colder than normal and faint patches of ice rimmed the walls—aftereffects of the attempted prison break. Temperature extremes didn't bother Conner, and he knew that M'Gann was probably enjoying the cold thanks to her martian heritage, but Amanda Waller must have been feeling chilled. If the low temperature was getting to her though, the large, dark-skinned woman wasn't letting it show. "Thank you, both of you." Wisps of fog escaped Waller's mouth as she addressed Conner and M'Gann. "You prevented the jailbreak when Belle Reve's finest stood powerless. Without you, this prison—which is supposed to be the strongest jail in the world—would have suffered an inmate escape on an unprecedented scale. You have my gratitude, and the gratitude of all the other officers here who go about their duty of keeping these convicts contained."

"No problem," M'Gann said in a friendly voice. Conner couldn't see from right next to her, but M'Gann was probably giving one of her gentle smiles. "We're glad we could help," M'Gann continued.

"Yeah, No problem," Conner echoed, feeling he should be polite.

"Of course, that doesn't excuse you or the Justice League keeping knowledge about the jailbreak to yourselves," Waller said grimly. "You should have come right to us with what you knew. I'll be discussing that—as well as the source of your tip—with the League."

"Batman said the prison staff was compromised," Conner protested. "He warned us that everyone, no matter how high up, was a potential double agent for the bad guys."

"Vetting the prison staff is our concern," Waller replied. "If we had been told we had security breaches among our personnel we would have handled it."

"You can't be—"M'Gann started to speak.

Waller overrode her. "We also would have been prepared for Icicle, Sr.'s escape plan, and we possibly could have prevented the attempt before it got off the ground."

"Okay," Conner conceded, not truly buying that Waller could have done anything about Belle Reve's officers but not seeing how he could win that argument. "At least we fixed everything."

"Almost everything," Waller answered. "We still don't know who gave Mr. Freeze the parts he used to build himself a new freeze gun, and we still don't know how all the inmates got _these_." Waller reached behind herself onto her desk, and then threw a prison uniform into Conner's arms. The fabric felt warm, almost hot, to the touch. He passed it to M'Gann. The martian gripped the cloth and nodded. "I'll take care of it."

Thanks to all the confusion caused by the attempted jailbreak it took some time to find Icicle, Sr. and read his mind, but forty-five minutes later Waller had Doctor Hugo Strange in handcuffs. Superboy and Miss Martian, along with Waller and four guards she'd vouched for, stood over the seated form of the prison's chief psychologist, inside his own office no less. The guards looked a little worse for wear; Waller had deliberately requisitioned personnel who'd been treated for superficial injuries trying to thwart the prison revolt. She'd figured it was the closest she would come to making sure she had a trust-worthy prisoner detail on Strange. These four guards—as well as Superboy, Miss Martian and Waller herself—were the only ones besides Icicle, Sr. who knew about Hugo's detainment. Icicle, Sr. was in solitary confinement. The door was being watched by three more guards Waller had pulled from the list of those who'd been cleared for duty after being visiting the hospital wing for non-serious received from freed inmates. If there were other collaborators among the Belle Reve's staff, Waller had some time before they tried to rescue or silence Strange.

"Get started," Waller ordered Miss Martian, ignoring the numbing cold. Those damned ice villains had practically turned the place into a refrigerator. Waller was almost tempted to put on one of the heated prison uniforms, but the thought of wearing convict garb made her sick.

Miss Martian reached out her hands and placed them on the tall, bald man's temples. For his part Strange, bereft of his usual sunglasses (Waller hadn't wanted the man to have any way of hiding his expression) stared calmly into the face of the martian girl. Nothing else seemed to happen for half a minute, though Miss Martian must have been using her power. Eventually she stepped back, her shoulders slumping in defeat. Strange gave a small smile.

"He's blocking me," Miss Martian explained. "I can't get through his defenses."

Damn.

Superboy sighed. "Perfect."

"Is this something he's doing consciously, or is his protection automatic?" Waller asked.

"It's conscious," Miss Martian answered.

Waller allowed a smile of her own to slip. "I'll order some sedative from the hospital wing and you can try again," she said, reaching for the phone on Strange's desk. "It should be a little easier to read our little sneak's mind if he isn't awake to stop you."

Strange's smile dropped from his face. He stared at the floor in defeat. Hugo knew it was over.

"Hello Megan!" Miss Martian suddenly slapped her forehead and stopped Waller from reaching the phone. Miss Martian turned back to Strange, and after a moment the man abruptly fell forward. Two of the guards grabbed the psychologist before he could fall, and pulled him back into the chair.

"He's just asleep," Miss Martian said reassuringly. "We could have used you at Santa Prisca," she said to Waller. "Things would have gone much more smoothly if we'd thought to do that to Bane."

"No kidding," Superboy grunted.

Waller filed away the information Miss Martian had carelessly handed her about a mission to Santa Prisca for later. Right now they had a job to do.

Miss Martian's second attempt at reading Strange's mind was far more successful. By the end of it, Waller not only knew the identities of every double agent within the ranks of Belle Reve, she also had the names of every dirty officer who had helped Hugo reach his position as Chief Psychologist of Belle Reve and who might have helped him rise further. Regrettably, Miss Martian's word wasn't sufficient by itself to convict anyone, but it would be enough to have Strange and his cohorts quietly removed from power and placed under heavy supervision. It would also show Interpol who to investigate and help them identify what leads to follow up on so that the likes of Strange could be jailed.

Of course, the odds of Waller being responsible for Belle Reve's security in the long run were slim. A huge debacle had occurred under her nose, and she would most likely pay the price for that. For now, however, she was still Belle Reve's warden and she would carry out her duty.


End file.
